Pay The Price
by Ziven
Summary: [AR, altered-canon] Debts of the father are those of the son.


**Premise:** The Gods decide, when it is all said and done, to gift Yami for his hard work.

**Summary:** _Debts of the father are those of the son._

**Continuity:** A mixture of the manga and anime, as most of my fics are.

**Notes:** This is a large part of the premise for the Be Cool series, although you don't have to have read ANY of the other stories to understand this one. This is the _**very first event**_ in the continuity. I wrote this a long time ago, but due to its weird formatting didn't post it. I'm posting it now, because I've spoken to a few people who were curious about the start of the series and how it went down. I'll ask that you excuse the present tense, but I wasn't talented enough to rework it in a way that feel retains the emotion while still going through the events.

**Warnings:** None for this story.

* * *

Leaders are not leaders because they are liked, they are leaders because they need to be.

Atem began with a good relationship with his father. At a young age he was taught the basics for becoming a good leader. It took many trials in his teen/young adult (at least, adult by Egyptian standards) years for him to understand many of the things that his father imparted to him. To understand that a leader is one who does not want the role, but is the best person to fill the slot. A person with the initiative to step forward and make decisions, willing to shoulder what those decisions mean and stand for and realize that there will always be an injured party; there is always a side that is dissatisfied, that will feel that the wrong decision was made.

From his father's death stems a small army of issues, but he doesn't permit himself to think about them. There are clearly other problems looming over Egypt. If he wallows in his own regret and self-pity, he is wasting effort that his father invested in him as a person. The many are prioritized before the one.

In fighting with Thief King Bakura, with Zorc, he lost his friends along the way. Atem had to face the fact that he was momentarily defeated. The Items made to help them survive turned out to be of _decay _and _death _and the suffering of others; that is not the way to win any battle, sacrificing those who are not ready or willing. Because one of his own Priests performed the ritual, the blame is placed on his head. Debts of the father are those of the son.

There were too many things happening at once, too many stories connected to his father that were unfinished. Without his friends and Priests, battle after battle is draining.

Zorc and Thief King Bakura took everything from him. Atem is only one man. He can lay down his life to fight for others, but his father had debts to pay before he died. All Egyptians know that you cannot pay the debt of two lives with one. So he slept, knowing that he would have to wait until the soul of another could help him defeat the evil pending over the world.

A tactful retreat, if you will, rather than a surrender.

Yami picks up this story. His memories are lost in the process of locking himself away. He has to fight to remember his purpose. In the future the game is less harmful physically. But the danger of playing (in that Bakura would gladly, and has on many occasions, taken souls from the innocent; Marik has also killed others to reach his goal) is not removed.

Yuugi and his friends become something akin to Atem's Priests. They are there to help, and eventually they do travel through time and space to Egypt with him, to rediscover his past and lend him their strength to defeat Zorc. As they progress the powers of the Priests even show up to help, although they cannot - at least, not in the same way.

Their lives were already given. Those deeds are done. The past cannot be postponed in the same way that the future can.

Yami relived it all.

It is not a matter of memory, but of emotion. When Bakura lays the path for Zorc's resurrection, he is finally awarded his own body. Yami is free to walk around and explore the smaller details, the wisps of voices and smells and tastes from his childhood.

Certain things make more sense. He knows who Isis is, finds out that Set is his cousin and that is why he has always been intertwined with Kaiba. Yuugi's grandfather, even, was destined to be involved; he is one of the Priests, too. The set up becomes clear, and it's obvious more than anything that he was meant to be here, and that in the Egyptian Era that is something left to do. Everything in his life has led to this point.

_It's time_, he thinks. To finish what he once couldn't do, settle things once and for all. He will ensure that good triumphs over evil. And then he will rest.

Finally, rest.

Yami knows that these are memories. But he doesn't recognize anything. Confused gazes are thrust at him when he appears flummoxed. Eyes that sparkle with recognition are the eyes of strangers. Carefully sculpted walls that he's sure he once touched every day, feel foreign; the lack of sleek, gilded glass from the city he grew accustomed to is gone. He can't help but think of how old everything is.

How old _he _is.

Everyone calls him Atem, and it takes time for him to get used to the name. That isn't his name, he decides, it can't be him. He doesn't remember being Atem. He is someone else entirely.

Once again he seeks out the truth concerning his father's death. Again, he discovers that the Items have a sinister origin that begins with his uncle. Even his own. The Puzzle that had once been his only home, that had been so helpful for so long, the object of longing and power and comfort. That which made this possible, that guided him to his destiny, was ...evil. Did that make him evil as well?

These are things that weigh heavy on a man's soul - but for the same soul to suffer them twice, the second as intense as the last?

And yet somehow Yami trudges on, unsure of why the pain is that much more intense. Why is his pain crippling, paralyzing? Why doesn't he remember this? Fealties and oaths, the mixture of sweat and blood; the salty taste of tears. A woman that could have been his wife, his queen, snatched from his fingers. Family, loyal and true, reduced to a mere rival in the future. His best friend, now a cardboard piece in a deck on Yuugi's shelf.

Where is the justice in that?

But it is worth fighting for. He has seen the future, been to the future - he is the future. Yami, and Atem have to go on. They can't let Zorc be victorious.

He is not the same man that he was when he first conceded. Yuugi was worth it; Jounouchi, Anzu, Honda, Otogi, all of them. He was the man who inspired good in Mai and even Seto Kaiba; helped rid Marik of his demons (a debt settled with Isis, now that he knows what was given to him), and rescued countless others from negative forces.

And then there is also Ryou.

It seems a small matter to mention Ryou, to think of him when the sky is darkening and the palace is crumbling. But it is so important. If nothing else, he - and the Thief - are owed many lives. For in finding the origin of the Items - including the Puzzle that has been so good to him - Yami has discovered _Kul Elna_. A frightening tale from Atem's childhood (the memory of a memory) come back to haunt him.

Kul Elna is real, and he (_they?_) must answer for it.

He already lost one life - his memories, experiences, the right to decide (or even know) if he lived or died - and lived another. It was time for both of them to an end. Two, to pay the debt.

A debt so large that, in the future, a small boy had to house evil in his soul simply to help pay the price.

Despite this Yami believes the Gods to be fair. He never believed, even after regaining his memories, that his own sacrifice would be enough.

But there is so much more at stake. So much more will be done for the greater good. This is the last battle, the final showdown. Everything he faced in Domino, he believes, was set to prepare him for this moment. No more memories, no more fighting, no more struggling. No screams, no sobs, no wreckage.

There will be silence again, and Yami will sleep. And Ryou will finally be free.

Many men are afraid of dying, terrified of death and decay. They want nothing more than to live forever. But Yami has lived forever and there is nothing in it for him. He is not willing to pay that price. He knows that he will be loved and remembered, and that is enough. He saw the display at the museum, saw the etchings on Marik's back. It is more than he deserves.

When it is all said and done, when he finds himself among the dead and dying, it isn't over yet. He feels his heartbeat, strong despite his battering, despite his injury. There is more to do.

Yuugi is there waiting in the sunset, tears in his eyes.

They both know what must be done.

His friends can't leave without the Ceremonial duel and neither can he rest. Yami wants it so badly that his soul quivers for it. His family is waiting for him, in the tombs of those who have come and led and bled and died before him, again. He longs to join them.

The Puzzle withdraws. Though Yami can feel the weight of the gold around his neck he realizes that there is no power swelling in it. It will not help him complete this duel, and he doesn't know if it's because it is exhausted or because it is not supposed to. His guess is that it's both.

Yami fears that the Millennium Items will not give him up if he doesn't duel his best. He tells Yuugi this, that they both have to do their best, that the roads end here. They have to finish something that neither of them started.

Yuugi accepts, as Yami knew he would.

Yami can't help but be proud. Yuugi has learned a lot about friendship and bravery. He now knows that he pushed Yuugi and his friends so hard not because of the urging of the Puzzle, but because he himself had experienced true friendship, true devotion, and his heart aches. They needed to grow, and they have.

The duel ends and there are more tears. Why is Yuugi crying?

He can only thank the Gods that Yuugi and his friends are intact. They can go home. They can leave and live out the remainder of their potential. They can do so much, change so many lives, feel so many things - and avoid the things he'd felt.

They all say their goodbyes, and it's confirmed that Yami will be missed, although a bitter part of him does not understand why. His presence and the problems that chased after (and yet led) him have only caused disruption. Another debt.

This one can only be repaid by his absence.

Power surges through the Puzzle one more and Yami lets go. Suddenly it doesn't matter whether he is Yami or Atem or someone else. Let the powers that be sort it out. He has sacrificed enough. This body, sustained only by the acquisition of memories, the power of emotion, the presence of good and evil, is spent. There is nothing else it can give. His soul suffered for Kul Elna, was lain prostrate for it in the name of justice.

_I'm done_, he thinks, as he comes _un_done. He smiles at Yuugi as the golden light washed him. _I'm free_.

But it was not to be.

When Yami next opens his eyes, he is surprised to be opening them. Shocked to feel a light breeze on his flesh. Terrified to feel air swelling in his lungs. He shudders to think that this is the afterlife. He has been a spirit before, and he did not need to breathe.

He does not know what do when he sees Yuugi's face, giddy and laughing, ecstatic that he's awake and alive and in front of him.. He recognizes the pale paint on the walls, the simple dresser and the small bed he's lying on. The feel of it on his _flesh_ is familiar. He doesn't want it to be.

Yami simply sobs into the sheet beneath him.

When there are no more tears, all that is left is anger. The Puzzle, he decides, is the cause of this. It is still on the heavy chain around his neck. He thrashes in anger, nearly rips it off and throws it in his rage. He doesn't realize until after the that he doesn't feel any different. There is no difference between the Puzzle being on or off. The weight of magic, of power, is absent.

His heart stops. Yami frantically searches his mind, remembers with pain and pleasure his experience in Domino, his duels with Kaiba, conversations with Yuugi. Egypt is also there; the agony, the satisfaction. How light his body felt when the Puzzle had taken hold of it. When he had been released.

The happiness.

With a start, he realizes that if his memories are his to keep, they were no longer in the Puzzle. Yami scrambles to the Item, picks it up off of the floor. When he holds the Puzzle in his hands again, he realizes that there is nothing inside of it. He turns it over to the Eye of Wadjet and stares at it. He wants to go inside, to retreat and hide and figure out what is happening to him. Yuugi watches in confusion.

The Puzzle is empty. There is nothing to go into. His rooms, his maze - all gone. Gold glitters and shines in his hands, no longer whispering promises. It is a hollow thing, now. And Yami is, too.

He stays curled up in bed, head pressed down in the direction of the floor. Yami is prostrate, praying. He has never prayed this hard or for this long. No food passes through his lips, or water. Yuugi becomes more worried with each passing day. But he does not speak. He _will_ be one with the Gods, and nothing else matters until they answer.

Nine days pass, and they are all silent.

Then Yuugi tells him of a conversation had with Ryou. The Ring is different, too. Ryou can finally take it off.

By different, he means empty, but Yuugi doesn't understand. Ryou does, and confirms it in happy tones over the phone. Ishizu has stopped having visions. Marik cannot compel even a small rat. The many souls powering the Items have gone back to their rightful places. _They_ are free.

Yami is not.

{FIN}

* * *

This is actually the perfect time to drop this. I'll be updating _Stay Cool_ soon, and the aftermath of this story will be addressed in more detail than it has to this point.

For those of you who read this story without being introduced to _Be Cool_ and its sequel, I of course encourage you to - if you can stomach Respectshipping (w/ older!Mokuba).


End file.
